Steinberger Guitars, Upgraded Necks

When buying a Moses neck somewhere else, please be aware that
the externally mounted truss rod adjusting wheel that Ed Roman
provides will not fit correctly on a Moses Neck. The Moses
cavity is too deep. Moses makes a good quality neck. In fact
they make our necks also. The prices are about the same and our
neck will allow you to adjust your truss rod without removing
your neck. So unless you want to remove your neck to adjust the
truss rod, we suggest you buy the neck from us. Plus
our price is always lower than direct !!!!

Carbon Graphite Necks (Sonically Engineered)
All the upgrades on this page are incorporated into the LSR headless Guitars. The
LSR Brand Neck uses a
completely different blend of Carbon Graphite, Kevlar & Epoxy. Exclusive
To Ed Roman...

The original
composite blend was a mixture of Fiberglass, Kevlar, Strandular Carbon Graphite
Fiber and Epoxy. This blend works quite well, it is designed for stiffness
reliability and stability. Today's chemists, physicists and other assorted
Einstein propeller heads know a lot more about the tonal characteristics of
Carbon Graphite than they did years ago. The newer LSR Blend TM
Graphite is
designed more with sonic performance in mind. It is totally different from what
any of the other companies like Modulus, Zon or Steinberger offer. Without
giving away any deep dark trade secrets I can safely say that the LSR Blend
TM uses a lot less Epoxy stiffener in the mix. (The
sacrifice here is of course stiffness). That is compensated for with the
addition of a truss rod and the Carousel TM truss rod
adjuster. (AKA The Edwheel)

4. There is a truss rod which allows for several different relief's to
accommodate several different basic styles.

5. The LSR Blend Graphite with laminated wood fingerboards. (Stronger
even than Steinberger)

I also carry the stock Original Steinberger Necks
To Check Out The
LSR Brand Necks Click This Link)

FingerboardsSteinberger uses a phenolic fingerboard exclusively on all of their necks.
Phenol is the prime ingredient in Epoxy. Phenolic fingerboards are smooth
& slick and
feel great on your fingers. I firmly believe that if anyone would ever call a
Steinberger "cold and sterile" it would probably be because of the Phenolic
Fingerboards.

Phenolic fingerboards will give you about as much tone as a
phenolic circuit card. This is not necessarily a bad thing! If for example
you are recording, Stock Steinbergers have always been a favorite of recording
studio engineers.
We offer a multitude of differentfingerboard woods, Brazilian Rosewood, Birdseye Maple, Morado, Ebony, Pau
Ferro, Kingwood, Koa, Snake wood and many other exotics.
Custom Inlays Available.

Retopped Steinberger Done In Ed Roman's Shop

Satinized Necks

If you play an LSR satinized necks I guarantee it will feel exactly like
wood.
You may have to close your eyes but I am sure you will agree it feels just
like wood.
Due to the use of less epoxy stiffener they sound very woody
also.

Truss Rod

The stock Steinberger neck requires no truss rod. The fact is that the
Steinberger neck is designed for stiffness and does not allow variations of
relief for different styles of playing. On my upgrade necks this poses no
problem, because you can easily adjust the relief without removing the neck.
There is another high quality neck available on the market that I also carry.
At this time it does not provide for adjustment without removing the neck
entirely. If you own already one of these I can modify it for you in about 1
hour's time.

Graphite Neck with Laminated Wood Board, (Stronger than anything)
Steinberger uses a Phenolic fingerboard exclusively on all of their necks.
Phenol is the prime ingredient in Epoxy. But understand that Phenolithylin has
no memory like real wood. I know you thought your Steinberger neck was totally
indestructible. It is definitely conceivable that if you left your guitar in the
trunk on a real hot day that the Phenolic board would "bite the proverbial
bag". It would be totally un-repairable even if you did have a truss rod it
could not be fixed. But laminated wood fingerboards are more resilient, the
likelihood of an inexpensive repair on an LSR blend neck with Pakka wood
laminate would be 95% versus 0% on the phenolic model.

Plus The LSR necks are available in solid wood, Rosewood, Ebony, Macassar
Ebony, Maple, & Koa. They are of course also available with custom inlays and in
several different strandular graphite blends. Nothing else comes close.

Stock Steinberger Necks:

Naturally I offer the stock Steinberger necks as well. I keep several of
each model in stock at all times. I can also satinize either your existing stock
neck or a new stock neck for a small fee, if you feel inclined to do so.

This process is 100 percent reversible if you aren't happy with it but so
far I have never put one back to shiny. I also will accept trade in's on stock
Steinberger necks. Even if they need a fret job.

Currently Ed Roman stocks upwards of 75 headless necks at any given time.
Including but not limited to. 4 string Bass, 5 String Bass, Headless Guitar and
models with headstocks also. Fretless too.

The picture on the left is actually an LSR Rocket model with a graphite
neck and a maple fingerboard. These custom necks will retrofit on any real USA
Steinberger.

The newer Steinberger Synapse will not accept the original parts.
In fact nothing from Gibson or Music Yo will accept any of the original parts.

The Music Yo models resemble the original Steinbergers if you are looking
at it from a distance. But they are not even close and nothing is
interchangeable.
Also See
LSR Brand Necks

Carbon Graphite Composite Necks
Genuine Mother of Pearl and Abalone

1 Abalone Split Block

2 Mother of Pearl Block w Diagonal Abalone Columns

3 Mother of Pearl Block w Triangular Mother of Pearl
Inserts

Composites 101

There are various Pros
& Cons regarding Composites Vs Wood.
Just remember there are other forces at work besides
what you read here.

The purpose of
this article is to educate the reader on composites,
and why they are a compelling alternative to wood.
Composites work very well with wood, or can replace
wood if needed.

For example here in Las Vegas we are firmly
recommending
Rainsong acoustic guitars as the absolute best
sounding instruments that won't give you problems
with drying out or being affected by the local heat.

The word
“composite” means two or more materials combined to
form a composite material. Fiber reinforced
materials, commonly referred to as composites, have
been around for centuries. Early settlers found that
by combining straw with mud, the composite was much
stronger. Highways & bridges are composite because of
the steel rebar embedded in the concrete. In today’s
modern age, light weight composites in the form of
fiber reinforced resins have become the standard in
sporting goods and aerospace applications.

Modern
composite materials use high strength fibers made from
a variety of materials such as fiberglass, carbon,
aramid, boron, and others. The most popular is carbon
fiber, due to its high stiffness, high strength, and
light weight. Carbon fibers may be manufactured from
polyacrylonitrile (PAN), pitch, or rayon precursor
materials by high-temperature (2000 to 35000 F)
carbonization or graphitization processes, hence the
name “graphite.”

Carbon fiber is
useless without a resin binder. Typically, carbon
fibers are coated with an epoxy resin which surrounds
the fibers and holds them in place. This material is
known as a pre-preg, which stands for
“pre-impregnated” meaning the fibers have been
embedded into the epoxy resin.

With
pre-preg materials, the carbon fibers are
unidirectional, meaning all the fibers run in the same
direction parallel to each other. This is the most
efficient arrangement of fibers. Fiber-Sonic,
takes the pre-preg sheets and cut them to different
shapes and at different fiber angles to create a
“lay-up” specific to each individual product. For
example, they can change the stiffness of a neck by simply
changing the fiber angle. We can also combine
different fibers to create a hybrid composite, which
has beneficial properties of both. In
addition, once the recipe is optimized the composite
structure is repeatable part after part, ensuring
consistent high quality time after time.

This is what an
ideal composite structure looks like up close,
magnified 500X. The fibers should be distributed in
the resin matrix uniformly. This allows the matrix
material to transfer the load to the fibers in a
uniform manner, resulting in an efficient structure.

Wood has a
fiber structure very similar to a composite material.
Wood is comprised of a fibrous structure of cellulose,
which has a grain to it where the wood is stronger in
one direction than another. This is because the
cellulose fibers are parallel to each other, much in
the same way unidirectional composites are formed.

Wood comes in a
variety of species, all which have
different grain structures, densities, strengths, and
beauty. Even the same species of wood varies based on
growing conditions. Furthermore, within the same
tree, the properties of wood can vary. Despite these
inconsistencies, wood is an excellent material for
musical instruments, but has limitations:

Wood
is a natural material, meaning that variance can occur
from batch to batch. Trees grow at different rates
depending on weather, so every batch can be different.

Wood is
affected by moisture, so factories must treat the wood
& store in temperature & moisture controlled
environments while manufacturing the product. Once
the product is shipped, it remains susceptible to
these environmental conditions, which can cause the
wood to warp, crack, and change dimension.

Wood can expand
and contract with temperature & moisture, effecting
the production of wood parts, and affecting the sound
of musical instruments. It is easy to see why wood
instruments require constant tuning.

The fiber
orientation of wood is limited to what nature gives
us. It is possible to create a laminate of different
plies of wood at different grain orientations (e.g.
plywood) but the above deficiencies still exist.

Fiber Sonic,
can design in the exact tone desired by changing the
stiffness and weight of the component. Sound travels
through a structure as a function of stiffness and
weight, so it is possible to “dial in” the optimal
combination for every application. With fiber
reinforced composites, there are numerous ways to
adjust the tone of the product:

Type
of fiber used:

You can use very stiff and light carbon fibers, or
heavier and more flexible glass fibers, or a
combination of each to optimize the performance and
cost.

Orientation of fiber
angles:
A low angle like 0 degrees maximizes stiffness, where
an intermediate angle such as 45 degrees is much more
flexible.

Stacking
sequence:
different plies are stacked up creating the layup, the
sequence and location of each fiber type can affect
the stiffness and tone.

Different resin
systems:
We can use a strong resin such as epoxy, which
will produce good attack and sustain, or use a softer
resin like a thermoplastic, which will produce a
warmer tone.

The world of
composites offers unlimited options to optimize the
performance of a musical instrument. They can be used
alone or in combination with wood, to take advantage
of the best parts of both.